Novak Djokovic looks unstoppable as he pursues another title

EVEN Novak Djokovic, usually relaxed and in a humorous mood after yet another routine win, was taken aback by the question.

"Did you realise that Wimbledon had become an indoor tournament?" he was asked at a press conference following his easy 6-3 6-1 6-3 win over Viktor Troicki in their round four clash on Monday.

The world No1, tournament top seed and defending champion was momentarily lost for words.

Finally, Djokovic replied: "It's been a subject of these last couple of days, obviously."

Djokovic has played under the Centre Court roof in his last three matches and has progressed smoothly into the quarters finals. The majority of players in the men's singles would like to have had the same advantage with the scheduling rather than have to battle a wet English summer.

None of this is Djokovic's fault. As the world's best player, it's a given he gets to play on Centre Court, the only court that has a roof.

"As I said before, it's not in my hands, let's say, to say what's right or wrong," Djokovic said.

"But they have to consider a lot of different things aside just putting a match on the court to finish of the further schedule of the tournament.

"They have to obviously consider the crowd, the TV, tickets, all these things that can influence."

Djokovic has demonstrated in the first four rounds why he is everyone's top pick to win Wimbledon again. They could play this tournament on snow and he would still be the player to beat.

It seems only the great Roger Federer can conceivably prevent Djokovic from retaining the title with both men on-course for a semi-final showdown.

As Djokovic prepares for his quarter-final appearance at Wimbledon tonight, it will be the one-year anniversary of his ascension to the top of world tennis.

"It was obviously always my ambition and my career goal to be the best at what I do," Djokovic said.

"I've been dedicating my whole life to this sport, and I was able to achieve my goals last year in Wimbledon to win my dream tournament and then become No1.

"But then after that, after everything finished, everything calmed down, I was hungry for more success. Obviously I'm playing the best tennis of my life at this moment, and I'm trying to stay where I am as much as I can.

"But I'm not thinking about rankings too much, you know, because there is obviously the points drop and all these systems that are involved, these calculations, that is too hard to follow.

"So I just try to focus hard on every tournament, try my best at the major events, and I guess the rankings will follow up."